


The Short Goodbye

by misura



Category: Exiles Saga and Galactic Milieu - Julian May
Genre: Gen, Identity Reveal, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:21:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21547522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: "How?" Jack asked, at last. He sounded half curious and half something else. Annoyed, Unifex thought, and a little disappointed, as if he had expected better from the universe.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 9
Collections: Yuletide Madness 2019





	The Short Goodbye

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lesyeuxverts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesyeuxverts/gifts).



Jack stared. Unifex waited, content to let Jack gather his thoughts, prioritize his questions.

"How?" Jack asked, at last. He sounded half curious and half something else. Annoyed, Unifex thought, and a little disappointed, as if he had expected better from the universe.

Which was fair enough, all things considered, Unifex supposed. "Time travel," he said. "To give you the short version."

"Ha," said Jack, looking a tiny bit mollified. "I remember you reading me some books about that from Uncle Rogi's shop. We used to laugh about the terrible science."

Unifex offered him a half-smile, regretting the gesture as he saw Jack's expression shift, become more guarded. "We had some good times when we were younger," he said.

"We had some great times when you were less of an arrogant jerk," Jack said, looking away.

A gesture only, of course. Unifex remembered what a waste of precious time and brain capacity he'd considered it, hearing Jack earnestly talk about setting out to teach himself how to appear human, ordinary.

"I'm pretty sure I was born that way," Unifex said. Once, he knew he would have added some comment about how Jack had been born to be _not_ ordinary, perhaps even not quite human.

Arguably, Jack's sainthood had more or less proven him right on that point.

"I'd say that you were right, but, well." Jack shrugged. "You were, are wrong about a lot of things, and if you're here to convince me otherwise, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed."

"You're taking this pretty calmly," Unifex said. He realized that he felt ... sad, perhaps. Earlier contact with Jack would have been too dangerous, too prone to intervening with the way events had to unfold, because they had already unfolded that way.

This small window of time, he had allowed himself. To talk, one last time.

"Marc," Jack said. "Big brother. I don't care how you became ... whatever you are now, or how this time travel thing works, or what you want from me. It's too late. I'm going to do what I'm going to do. You can't stop me, because if you could, you'd have already done so."

His mind added: But if you want to join me, change sides, do the right thing, maybe that could be arranged, maybe I could trust you & we could work together as we used to but no you arrogant jerk you I KNOW YOU.

Yes, Unifex said. And no.

??? Jack sent, wary, his shields at full strength.

"I'm not actually here to talk you out of anything," Unifex said, out loud. "You see, that would be breaking the time-space continuum, or whatever you prefer to call it. This is more in the line of a social visit."

Ha! Jack said. Sure it is. "That bad, huh?" he asked. "But then, if you can't change anything with time travel, why bother with it at all?"

Unifex shrugged again. "I'd show you, but even your extraordinary mind wouldn't be able to handle it. So I'm afraid you're simply going to have to trust me on this. I am who you know I am, but I've also changed over the course of this new existence."

"Have you talked to yourself?" Jack asked. His mind flashed a picture of a book cover: a man staring in horror at his mirror image, dressed in a futuristic uniform.

"Now that would really be pointless," Unifex said. "Besides, I have nothing to say to myself. Other than, perhaps, to stop being an ass, but that's where the time-space continuum comes in again, so."

"You wouldn't listen to yourself anyway," Jack said.

"Probably not," Unifex acknowledged. "Still, speaking as someone in a position to know: I never stopped loving you. Yes, we had a falling out and yes, I chose not to mend that bridge because I am, as you pointed out, an arrogant jerk. But I never hated you or wanted you dead, and I always hoped we might become friends again."

"But we won't, will we?" Jack said.

"No," Unifex admitted. "We won't."

"I'm going to die. That's why you're here." Jack looked away again. But what about Unity? What about Diamond, my Lucy in the Sky? What about the children? Tell me/don't tell me!

"Eventually, yes. You've always known that much, at least," Unifex said. Once, he might have thought to himself how unfair it was, that it was him and not Jack who'd lived for millions of years, as good as immortal.

Now - well, atonement took a long time. What had Jack ever done that needed atoning for?

"You're still not a very good liar," Jack said. "Still, for what it's worth, I know you're not actually a bad guy, or evil, or some sort of fallen angel. You're just you." And I love you too, big brother/idiot/jerk.

"Sometimes, I wish I could have been a little bit less," Unifex said. "Alas, one cannot change the past."

"And the future?" Jack asked.

"All may yet be very well," Unifex told him. "Only persevere."


End file.
